Reputation economy

According to the National Business Review, “People’s willingness to buy, recommend, work for and invest in a company is driven 60 percent by their perceptions of the company and only 40 percent by their perceptions of their products.” If your company has a good reputation people will do business with you. If it has a bad reputation you won’t be in business very long. This isn’t a new concept. The only difference is now if your company doesn’t deliver you could end up with a bad online review.

There are a few things you can do to build, protect and, enhance your reputation. In an article that appeared in Forbes, Darrah Brustein, the founder of Network Under 40, suggests going a step beyond what is expected. She says, “Did someone ask for a reference from you? Offer three. Did you say you’d save them 10 percent? Save them 15. Did you say you’d follow up in 24 hours? Follow up in 12.”

Going above and beyond can take a lot of different forms. Every year at TDS we send our managedIP Hosted customers a survey. We want to know if they’re happy with the product and what additional features/services they would like us to provide them. In a recent survey our customers expressed an interest for more training on the system. In 2013 we hosted an in person training session for our customers in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. TDS’ Manager of Commercial Lead Generation Jennifer Lichtie says, “The training was very successful. It got great customer reviews!”

The problem with in person trainings is you have to be present to attend. With work schedules and personal lives it can be difficult to find the time. To make attending the trainings easier TDS is offering webinars on the 3rd Thursday of every month at 9 a.m. Each hour long session covers a different topic which can range from managing calls to using enhanced features in the web portal. Signing up for each training is free and you never have to worry about missing a session. Recordings of each webinar are normally available online about 24 hours after the event.

Most importantly we leave a significant amount of time to answer customer questions during each session. Jennifer says, “TDS wants our customers to take full advantage of their communication system to ensure their business is taking advantage of all the values the system brings. We want to offer our customers the tools they need to feel comfortable with our managedIP Hosted product.”

Jennifer also adds that we’re always looking for ways to improve the webinar experience. She says, “We have sessions planned for the rest of 2015 and into 2016. We will be asking our customers what else they want to learn about in the future and then we’ll do webinars on those specific topics too.”

Writing for Forbes in 2013 Contributor Dan Schawbel, founder of Millennial Branding, a Gen-Y research and management consulting firm, and international bestselling author said, “Reputation builds trust.” What are you doing to build your reputation? Feel free to leave your thoughts below in the comments section or reach out to us on Facebook and Twitter. And don’t forget to subscribe to the blog!

About Barclay Pollak

Barclay Pollak is an award winning journalist and proud to be a member of the Corporate Communications team at TDS Telecommunications Corp. (TDS®) in Madison, Wis.
Barclay joined the team in April of 2013. Before that Barclay worked as an Anchor/ Reporter for the NBC affiliate in Madison. While at NBC-15 Barclay was recognized by several organizations for his contributions to the television news industry. They include the Wisconsin Broadcasters Association, the Radio Television Digital News Association (Edward R. Murrow Regional Award) and the Chicago/Midwest National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences (2012 Emmy Nominee).
When he’s not working Barclay enjoys cheering for all the sports teams in Wisconsin. Barclay’s a University of Wisconsin-Madison alumnus and a huge fan of Badger athletics.
Barclay is fascinated by the ever changing world of technology and spends a fair amount of his free time reading about the latest and greatest developments online. When Barclay’s not learning about technology he’s scouring the Internet in search of freeware.
Barclay has an 8-year-old daughter and lives with his girlfriend of almost five years on Madison’s southwest side. Follow on G+.

Connect:

Stay connected with TDS Business for the latest news.

About TDS Business

TDS Telecom. is the 7th largest telecom provider in the U.S., and our parent company is Telephone and Data Systems Inc. Of course, we have a few cool sister companies too, like U.S. Cellular and OneNeck® IT Solutions. Bottom-line: At TDS it’s our job to connect people at home and at work. We connect people nationwide, in rural communities and metro areas alike. We connect people running big businesses, start-ups, and even at- home teleworkers with Internet, phone, data, and TV services.